An unemployed drifter has been jailed for 30 years after being found guilty by
an Italian court of murdering British student Meredith Kercher.

Amanda Knox and her one-time Italian boyfriend are to face trial in DecemberPhoto: AP

By Nick Squires in Perugia

9:05PM GMT 28 Oct 2008

An American student and her Italian former boyfriend will face trial in December.

Rudy Guede has been jailed for 30 years for murder and Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito will stand trial next year

Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede, 21, was found guilty of murdering and sexually assaulting Miss Kercher in the medieval walled town of Perugia, where she was studying Italian.

Judge Paolo Micheli also ruled that her American flat mate, Amanda Knox, 21, of Seattle, and Miss Knox’s one-time boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, will be charged with murdering the Leeds University student.

On hearing the verdict, Miss Knox burst into tears but her lawyer told her: “Don’t worry, this is just the beginning.”

Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found semi-naked and in a pool of her own blood on November 2 last year in the house she shared with Miss Knox and others.

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Her throat had been slit and she had sustained more than 40 other injuries. The Kercher family said they were satisfied with the verdict but found the moment when it was announced emotionally painful.

“I felt overwhelmed,” said one of Miss Kercher’s two brothers, John. “The judge said he believes he [Guede] killed our sister and for me that was overwhelming.”

Her other brother, Lyle, said: “It’s important to remember that at the end of day we’re here because our sister Meredith was murdered. 'Pleased’ is not the appropriate word, 'satisfied’ is the best we can say.” Their sister Stephanie said: “Today has been really important in our steps towards justice for Meredith.”

The family faced a “difficult” time as the anniversary of Meredith’s murder approached, she said.

When asked if they had a clearer idea of what happened to Meredith on the night she was killed, John Kercher said they would wait for the judge to publish reasons for the verdict, which is expected in the next 60 days.

The family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said: “We are very satisfied, even though this is a young man who faces a very heavy sentence. Italian justice has paid the tribute of truth to poor Meredith.”

Guede had elected for a separate, fast-track trial from Knox and Sollecito because he feared they had a pact to frame him for the murder. In Italy, a fast-track trial is held behind closed doors, involves a few key witnesses taking the stand and can lead to a lesser sentence. Guede’s tactic appears to have backfired — 30 years counts as life under Italian law and is what prosecutors had requested.

The key point of evidence against Guede was a bloody handprint on a pillow in Miss Kercher’s bedroom which bore his fingerprints.

A fragment of glass from a broken window was found wedged in the tread of his shoe, and his shoe prints were found in the house.

Prosecutors also pointed to the fact that Guede fled to Germany in the days after the murder as proof of his guilt, and that he admitted being at the scene of the crime.

Guede had always claimed that he was in the house because Miss Kercher, a Leeds University exchange student, had agreed to have sex with him after the pair had met at a Halloween party the night before.

A post-mortem examination on Miss Kercher’s body confirmed that there had been sexual contact between the two, but was inconclusive about whether it was consensual or not.

He said he went to the bathroom because of stomach pains, then heard Miss Kercher scream.

He stumbled out of the bathroom and confronted a lone intruder, a man who he claimed looked like Mr Sollecito.

He grappled with the stranger, who then ran out of the house. He said he only fled the scene and left Perugia because he was afraid that as a black man 'racist’ Italian police would try to pin the crime on him.

After 11 hours of deliberation, Judge Micheli threw out Guede’s version of events.

Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito will go to trial charged with murder on December 4th.

A decision is expected on Wednesday on whether they will be kept in jail, or allowed out under house arrest at a Catholic hostel near Perugia, as their lawyers have requested.